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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 






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UNITED STATES CONSULAR REPORTS. 



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POUNDING AND POLISHING RICE 



ENGLAND AND GERMANY. 



CONTENTS. 

ENGLAND. Report by Consul-General Waller of London. 

GERMANY. Two reports l)y Cousnl Loaning, of Bremen. Report by Consul Lang, 
of Hamburg. 



PUBLISHED BY THE BEPARTMENT OF STATE, ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS. 




WASHINGTON: 
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
146 Ri 18 85. 






9 



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POUNDING AND POLISHING RICE IN ENGLAND AND 

GERMANY. 



POUNDING AND POLISHING RICE IN ENGLAND. 

REPORT BY CONSUL-GENERAL WALLER, OF LONDON. 

It is interesting to notice that in a pamphlet published in London in 
1701, " On the importance of British plantations in America," it is men- 
tioned as a recent circumstance " that a brigantine from the island of 
Madagascar happened to put into Charleston, S. 0., having a little rice 
seed left, which the captain gave to a gentleman named Woodward. 
From part of this he had a very good crop, but he was ignorant for some 
years how to clean it. It was soon dispersed over this province, and by 
frequent experiments and observations they found out ways of producing 
and manufacturing it to so great perfection that it is thought to exceed 
any other in value." The seed of which the pamphlet speaks soon be- 
came famous. It was exported to Java, Italy, Spain, and other coun- 
tries, and now the finest East Indian rice is grown from this seed. 

In the early part of the present century Great Britain was principally 
supplied with this grain from the States of South Carolina and Georgia . 

This trade, for a variety of reasons, has practically ceased, and now 
England exports to the United States about 250,000 cwts. of rice an- 
nually. 

THE MANUFACTURE. 

The manufacture — the pounding and polishing — of rice is nearly all 
done in England, in the cities of London and Liverpool. The following 
table of customs statistics shows the sources and amounts of supply in 
the year 1884 : 

Cwta. 

Germany 117,180 

Holland 145,735 

Italy 12.120 

Aiist rian territories 13, 035 

British India 5,338,082 

Straits Settlements 65,261 

Java 9> 9~^ 

Siam 250,714 

Cochin China 486,041 

Japan ; 131,553 

Other countries 9> ^^67 

Total 6,579,458 

Nearly all of this was received, as usual, in a condition requiring prepa- 
ration for the market, and about one-half of it will be consumed here. 

3 



4 POUNDING AND POLISHING RICE IN ENGLAND AND GERMANY. 



PROCESSES. 



The details of treatment may diifer, but the general system of rice 
pounding and polishing in the mills of England is substantially the same. 
These processes, in their order and products, are shown in a general 
way in this diagram, taken from a recent rice-trade publication. 



PROCESS. 

Sieve StAspirator. 

Shelling Stones. 

Scourins Machine. 
Blower; 



Decorticators, one or more 
in succession. 



BIowerT 

Polishers in sxiccession. 

Blower. 



Sieve,' 



PRODUCTS. 

C.irso Rice . 

Sticks, Stones.Refuse. 

Rice Dust 

.Rice. 



. Shelled Rice. Meal &Husk^ 
Meal. 

. Rice& Husk. 
Husk. 

. Shelled Rice . 
Meal 

.Cleaned Rice & Chaff. 



Chaff. 
Cleaned Rice. 



Fine Meal. 

Cleaned Rice. 



Chaff. 
Cleaned Rice. 



Fine Rice. 
Smalls. 




Brush Machine 
& Aspirator. 



Mixed Meal.«^-. 
Medium Meal 
Meal Rice- 



Rice. 
Meal Ricei 



Offal. 

Points. 

Il.Smalls. 



In describing these processes and the machines employed it may be 
observed that for the sake of accuracy the technical and identical 
language of experts and authorities on rice milling is often used in 
preference to my own. 

(1) Eice is generally elevated first to the top story of the mill, where 
it is blown or aspirated to get rid of the dust that would otherwise soon 
glaze the shelling stones and spoil their work. It is then sieved, either 
through a six-sided wire screen, or preferably through a long sieve sup- 



POUNDING AND POLISHING RICE IN ENGLAND AND GERMANY. 5 

ported ou wooden springs and worked transversely off a crank, to get 
rid of sticks, straws, stones, &c. 

(2) This being done, shelling-stones, resembling ordinary wheat-stones, 
are used for removing " paddy " or hnsks. This is sometimes accom- 
plished, however, by ])assing the rice over a common form of sieve hav- 
ing a jumping action or tapping motion at the bottom of it. In Bur- 
mese rice mills, it is said, the^^ use artificial stones made of emerj^ and 
magnesian cement. Four parts bj' weight of Xo. 18 emery are added 
to one part of ground calcined niagnesite (a rock carbonate of mag- 
nesia), and tempered with a saturated solution of chloride of magne- 
sium. This mixture is laid about 1 inch thick on the iron plates made 
specially for the purpose; it sets in a few hours and becomes hard 
enough for use in a few days. It is far more durable than the best mill- 
stone, and it always keeps a sharp face, owing to the difference in hard- 
ness between the emery and the cement that agglomerates it. Shelling- 
stones covered with cork have been tried and given up in England. 
In Italy a surface of hard wood set on end is sometimes used, like the 
Burmese native hand-mills, but they are being gradually superseded by 
the common shellers, either of cement or stone. The shelling-stones 
generally used in the mills of London and Liverpool, a diagram of 
which I am able to give here, are of the texture of •' peak," not " burr.' 



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They are from 5 to 6 feet across, having a '• swallow " or cut in them of 
about 2 feet 6 inches, and a " skirt " or plane surface of about 2 feet C 
inches. They are set horizontally, and usually about three-sixteenths of 
an inch apart. This, however, varies according to the size of the grain 
to be treated. They work at about 120 revolutions per minute. The 
centrifugal force impels the grain towards the periphery, and as it 
passes through the narrow space at the working face the grain is tipped 
up on end and the husk is cracked off. When the stones run true, with 
good rice, the breakage is about 3 per cent. In some mills the rice is 
shelled twice and winnowed twice. 

(3) In the process of shelling, a meal or Hour is made from the crush- 
ing of the rice paddy and the three pellicles which, inside of the paddy, 
inclose the grain. This meal is separated by a common screen scourer 
or meal machine^ Within the last year, however, an improvement has 
been made in this part of the process, not used, it is said, and perha|)S 
not known, in the United States. It is called the "conical tiappiug 
brush," an invention of Mr. I. W. Gray, of Trinity Square, London. The 
cone of this machine is covered with a wire case, through the meshes of 
which the meal, by the operation of the flapping brushes, is made to pass 



6 POUNDING AND POLISHING RICE IN ENGLAND AND GERMANY. 

(4) The rice is now left with only the husks and the pellicles that 
still adhere to the grain ; otherwise it is perfectly clean. The husks be- 
ing separated by the action of a common blast or exhaust, the pellicles 
are removed by the use of mortars. Ordinary mortars have been used 
many years both in England and America. Recently the " Gray mor- 
tar " has come into use. It has an inner coating composed chiefly of 
emery. The coating, it is said, adds to the activity or motion of the grain 
in this cleaning operation, and greatly lessens the time required for it. 
The rice passes from the mortars by valves at their base. 

(5) The rice is again winnowed by flapping cone brushes or blasts, 
and the chaff that has escaped previous operations is finally got rid of, 
and the grain is now ready for milling. 

(6) Milling is generally done by the ordinary machine known as the 
barley mill. The objection is made to this mill that its rotary motion 
breaks the germ end of this brittle grain, and so alters its natural shape 
and lessens its market value. It is being superseded here by a mill 
that has an emery drum, with fans at its base to keep the grain cool, 
and that is worked horizontally. I regret my inability to give a plan 
of this machine. The inventor, with whom I conversed, reluctantly re- 
fused it, and admission to the mills where it is used is not obtainable. 

(7) The rice is now again screened or subjected to flapping brushes, 
the meal made in the last process removed, and it is now ready for 
polishing. 

(8) Polishers generally' consist of a sheep-skin-covered drum, that 
revolves, inside of a fixed wire casing, about 1,800 feet to 2,000 feet per 
minute at the periphery. The form mostly used is that of an inverted 
frustum of a cone, a diagram of which is here given. 




The skin of a South-Down sheep is preferred for a cover, because of 
its thickness of wool. Sometimes the rice, as it passes into the polisher, 
is subjected to an infusion of indigo toned down with rice flour to a pale 



POUNDING AND POLISHING RICE IN ^iJNGLAND AND GERMANY. 7 

blue. This gives the rice a bluish tint, that is liked better in England 
than the natural creamy whiteness of the grain itself. 

(9) On leaving the polishers the rice is usually again blown or aspi- 
rated, and then separated into whole rice, broken rice, and rice of differ- 
ent sizes. 

(10) Eecently, for certain markets — the English included — rice is 
pressed through an oiling machine, to give it a smoother and glossier 
surface. 

In London there is a representative journal for almost every trade 
and manufacture. " The Miller," published at 24 Mark Lane, is the 
name of the one devoted to the interests of rice millers and brokers. 

THOMAS M. WALLER, 

Consul- Oeneral. 

United States Consulate-General, 

London, August 29, 1885. 



POUNDING AND POLISHING RICE IN GERMANY. 

REPORT BY CONSUL LOENING, OF BREMEN. 

In reply to your communication of the 25th ultimo, directing me to 
obtain information in regard to " the method ol pounding and polishing 
rice in Germany," I have to say that the information desired is very 
hard to obtain, as the rice millers here closely guard the secret of their 
process of cleaning and polishing rice, and have heretofore allowed no 
one to visit their mills. 

I have, however, been permitted to visit several rice mills, and wit- 
nessed the cleaning and polishing, &c., of rice ; but as lucid explana- 
tions of the several processes have not been given me, I can only give 
you a description of and report on what I actually have seen. My being 
no j)ractical rice miller will no doubt excuse all technical mistakes I 
may make. I shall endeavor to treat each process separately, beginning 
with 

PRELIMINARY CLEANING. 

The crude rice is almost all received here from India, and is of a 
quality about 75 per cent, free of shell or husk. 

This rice is passed through a mill (for cleaning and separating the 
shell or husk from the rice) consisting of two * circular stone grinding- 
wheels, 6 feet in diameter by 6 inches thick, revolving horizontally and 
reversely upon each other. 

The rice (shell and substance) product of this grinding process is con- 
ducted on to a flat horizontal sifter 10 feet by 2. 

The rice, shell, and husk, after being sifted of all fine dust, &c., fall 
off this sifter on to a short trough or conductor, that empties them into a 
bin or receiver; as the rice falls off this trough or conductor a strong 
blast of wind blows the shell and husk away from the rice; there are 
also, at the end of this trough or conductor, magnets (inlaid in the 
wood), to attract all particles of metal that may be in the rice. 

*In Bonie mills only one stone griucling-wlieel is nsed. 



8 POUNDING AND POLISHING RICE IN ENGLAND AND GERMANY. 

CLEANING RICE. 

Rice, after being separated from the husk or shell, and all extraneous 
substances, by the process of " preliminar;s cleaning" and sifting afore- 
said, is subjected to a process of cleaning, which is done in a machine 
consisting of a circular wheel (either of fine stone or composition) about 
6 feet in diameter by 15 or 20 inches thiick, fitting closely into and re- 
volving horizontally inside a mill (box) lined on the top with smooth 
steel and on the sides with smooth perforated steel. 

The rice enters this mill at the top, and is turned out cleaned of the 
yellow, mealy, coating common to all rice. 

The rapid motion of this " wheel," while grinding and rubbing the rice 
against the perforated steel sides of the mill, forces out the fine meal, 
dust, and scrapings. 

This process of cleaning is repeated several times until the rice is suf- 
ficiently clean and white. 

As the process of shelling and cleaning is by forcible grinding, some 
of the grains of rice are unavoidably more or less broken and crushed. 

These broken grains or granules must therefore be separated from 
the rice by a process of 

SIFTING. 

This is done by means of a horizontal revolving cj^linder sifter about 
4 feet in diameter by 10 feet long, slightly inclined. 

The sieves in this cylinder are of steel wire, divided into four or five 
sections or sizes. Thus as the rice enters this revolving sifter the 
smallest granules or particles of broken rice fall through the first sec- 
tion of sieve (which is of the smallest size), and are collected separately ; 
then the next larger grains are sifted through the next following sec- 
tion, gathered separately ; and so on through four or five different sec- 
tions and sizes of sieve until the whole grains only remain, fall off the 
sifter, and are gathered separately. 

By this process of sifting rice four or five different grades and classes 
of broken rice or, so called, granulated rice is obtained. 

POLISHING RICE. 

Polishing is the finishing process of cleaning rice. 

The rice obtained from the cleaning and sifting processes before men- 
tioned, is carried into a ''polishing machine" consisting of a roller 
(truncated-cone shaped) covered with soft sheep skin, fitting closely into 
and revolving horizontally in a cylinder the same shape, lined either 
with smooth skin, or finely perforated smooth steel, or very tine ''gauze 
sieve." 

The rice entering one end of this cylinder machine is turned out at 
the other beautifully polished. 

A fine quality of transparent rice is also produced here by a chemical 
process and application of fine oil, presumably done by the same proc- 
ess as polishing rice, with only the addition of oiled and chemical sub- 
stances. 

ALBERT LOENING, 

Consul. 

United States Consulate, 

Bremen, August 6, 1886. 



POUNDING AND POLISHING RICE IN ENGLAND AND GERMANY. 9 

GRANULATED RICE IN GERMANY. 

REPORT BY CONSUL LOENING, OF BREM3N. 

I have been rt'quested by tlie consul-general at Berlin, under date 
of July -5, to " obtain information in regard to the method ot pound- 
ing and polishing rice here in Germany," and I reported on that sub- 
ject under date of August G. 

In addition to and in connection with the above-mentioned report I 
have the honor to report to the Department on the subject of '' granu- 
lated rice," a commodity sold here in the market as Bruchreis (broken 
rice), or, so-called, granulated rice, used here entirely by brewers and 
starch manufacturers, and of which large exports have been lately 
made from here to the United States. 

As I have said in my report to the consul-general, rice is shelled, 
cleaned, and polished by a process of forcible {/rin(ling,ix\ which grind- 
ing operation some of the grains of rice are unavoidably broken more 
or less fine, and are afterwards sifted through sieves of various sizes, 
thus producing different grades and classes of Bruchreis (broken rice) 
or granulated rice. 

As far as I have been able to observe in the rice mills here, I tind no 
fipecicd grinding process for manufacturing " granulated rice," although 
it can be easily be done, and a prominent rice miller here ]>roposes that 
if the United States Treasury Department " object to his Bruchreis 
(broken rice) as graiuilated rice, in the sense of the term, to submit it 
again to a supplementary grinding process, although that would not 
materially alter the appearance of the broken rice, as it had already 
been broken and granulated by a special forcible grinding process" 
in the shelling and cleaning aforesaid. 

Some rice millers here claim that their process of cleaning rice is at 
the same time intended as a special process of granulating rice. 

I also have the honor to forward herewith to the Department fifteen 
tin boxes containing samples of rice, immbered, marked, and labeled as 
follows, with explanation and description of each: 

Ko. 1. Haw rice as received from In<lia, about 75 per cent, free of shell. 

No. 2. Rice after the grinding process of "i)reliminary cleaning" or 
shelling. 

No. 3. Rice after the " cleaning" |)rocess (half polished). 

No. 4. Polished mittel (middle) table rice. 

No. 5. Polished table rice. 

No. 6. "Transparent" or oiled table rice (finest quality). 

No. 7. Bruchreis {hvok^nrwki) or granulated rice, classed here as Nos. 
2 and 3 (smallest). 

No. 8. Bruchreis (broken rice) or granulated rice, classed here as No. 
1 (small). 

No. !'. Bruchreis (broken rice) or granulated rice, classed here as No. 
(coarse). 

No. 10. Bruchreis (broken rice) or granulated rice classed here as No. 
00 (very course) . 

No. 11. Husks (shells) the result of shelling and sifting. 

No. 12. Rice meal or flour obtained in cleaning i)rocess, classed here 
as No. 3. 

No. 13. Rice meal or flour obtained in the cleaning process, classed 
here No. 2. 

No. 14. Rice meal or flour obtained in the cleaning process, classed 
here as No. 1. 

146 Ri 2 



10 POUNDING AND POLISHING RICE IN ENGLAND AND GERMANY. 

ISTo. 15. " Rice-meal flour," a special manufacture from the broken or 
granulated rice. 

Tliere are four rice mills in Bremen, and large capital is invested in 
the business. 

I am told that the profit in rice milling is in the advantageous dis- 
posal of the " waste," such as broken or granulated rice, rice-meal flour, 
&c. 

The cost of cleaning and polishing rice is such as to allow very little, 
if any, margin of profit on "table rice.-' 

ALBERT LOENING. 

United States Consulate, 

Bremen, August 10, 1885. 



POLISHING RICE IN HAMBURG. 

REPORT BY CONSUL LANG, OF HAMBURG. 

I have the honor, in response to your letter of the 28th of July, 1885, 
to present herewith such information as to the method of pounding and 
polishing rice in Germany as I have been able to gather. 

At present the " Nagel" mill is most in use in Hamburg, although 
several others are in activity. This system is constructed by a Ham- 
burg engineer, INIr. Nagel, jr. 

It comprises all manipulations needed to clean the raw rice, to pestle, 
shell, and polish, and to assort it. 

(1) The cleaning is done by exposing the grist to a moderate current 
of wind, caused by a ventilator, and by passing it over or through a sys- 
tem of sieves. 

(2) The cleansed grist is now shelled and partly broken by running 
it through two systems of grinding or mill stones. One of the latter is 
cylindrical, and contains a hard millstone of 6 feet or G feet 7 inches 
diameter. Through this operation a quantity of rice flour is received, 
and therefore the whole mass has to be sieved again. 

(3) The most important process of polishing the rice is done very 
differently, and every manufacturer has his own system, which he keei)S 
secret. The general principle, however, is a wooden cylinder revolving 
in a wooden mantle, between which the rice has to circulate and to be 
rubbed. The Nagel machine does it in thGr'following manner: 

The mantle is made of wire work, thus oflering a rough surface, in or- 
der to retard the grains on the way downwards; the revolving cylinder 
is furnished with brushes, which clean and polish the rice. Some millers 
color their rice with fluid indigo, by suspending a basin containing the 
fluid over the cylinder and allowing it to drop slowly into the cylinder 
of rice. 

In other mills the mantle is made of wood and the cylinder filled with 
small pieces of sheep skin nailed on its surface, or the mantle is made 
of stone and the cylinder of wood without any cover on the surface. 

(4) After leaving the polishing cylinder the rice passes over a sj^stem 
of sieves, which assorts the grains as follows : Full grains and broken 
grains ; and the latter into small, middling, and coarse broken grains. 
A Nagel machine cleans and polishes 5,400 kilograms within twelve 
hours. 

WM. W. LANG, 
United States Consulate, Consul. 

Hamburg, August 20, 1885. 



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